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1 DIIS DANISH INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES STRANDGADE COPENHAGEN K DENMARK TEL THESE YOUNG MEN SHOW NO RESPECT FOR LOCAL CUSTOMS GLOBALISATION, YOUTH AND ISLAMIC REVIVAL IN ZANZIBAR Simon Turner DIIS Working Paper no 2008/4

2 Copenhagen 2008 Danish Institute for International Studies, DIIS Strandgade 56, DK-1401 Copenhagen, Denmark Ph: Fax: s: Web: Cover Design: Carsten Schiøler Printed in Denmark by Vesterkopi as ISBN: Price: DKK (VAT included) DIIS publications can be downloaded free of charge from DIIS Working Papers make available DIIS researchers and DIIS project partners work in progress towards proper publishing. They may include important documentation which is not necessarily published elsewhere. DIIS Working Papers are published under the responsibility of the author alone. DIIS Working Papers should not be quoted without the express permission of the author. Simon Turner, senior researcher, is head of the Migration unit, DIIS

3 Contents Abstract... 4 Zanzibar between Islamic Cosmopolitanism and Socialist Parochialism... 5 Political Liberalisation and Islamic Revival... 8 The Importance of Knowledge Returning Youth...15 The Tablighi Jamaat Movement Keep it simple Tablighi as non-intellectual We are not interested in politics religion and politics among the Tablighis Politics and Islam Conclusion Islam as Critique References

4 Abstract In recent years there has been a revival of Islam in Zanzibar, with heated debates about the nature of Islam and its role in society (Lodhi and Westerlund 1997, Gilsaa 2006). While Islam played a central role in society until independence in 1963, it was effectively removed from the public sphere by the socialist government after independence. Since the 1980s, however, Islam has again become a central issue in the public sphere, albeit in new forms. Like elsewhere in Africa, local forms of Islam are being challenged by a number of new reformist and revivalist kinds of Islam, influenced to some degree by a global Islamic revival, but shaped by the particular, local histories and politics. This has caused some friction especially as the regime in place seeks to manipulate these tensions for political benefit. However, as it will be argued in this paper, the kind of Islamic revival taking place in Zanzibar is far from radical or violent. In fact, Islamic revivalists often coin their critique of the state in terms of human rights and good governance and provide an alternative modernity that at once challenges and articulates with secular, liberal forms of modernity. Hence, the present paper explores how global trends in Islam but also global discourses on Human Rights and Good Governance influence the current modes of Islamic revival in Zanzibar. This paper explores the nature of Islamic revival in Zanzibar, its emergence and some of the consequences that this has had on society. It explores how global trends in Islam helped along by information technology and high-speed travel have played a role in these changes and have reconfigured the relationship between generations, between state and citizens and between religion and politics. Central to these changes are the young men who study in Arab states and return with new perceptions of Islam. But also other semi-educated youth can now access new, global knowledge about Islam via satellite TV, DVDs, booklets and the internet. In this sense, Islam becomes simultaneously globalized and individualised, challenging the religious authority of the traditional sheiks who used to have monopoly on interpreting Islam. The paper explores the ways in which the political and religious authorities react to these changes and how the young men in turn manoeuvre in this space, trying to avoid the label fundamentalist. After an analysis of the emergence of Islamic revivalism in Zanzibar, the paper explores the specific influence of returning youth. Finally it analyses more in depth the world views of a certain Islamic movement; the Tablighi Jamaat. While the focus of the paper is on local transformations, it is equally important to place these processes in the light of global trends in Islam that have strongly influenced the debate in Zanzibar and gained a local flavour. 4

5 Zanzibar between Islamic Cosmopolitanism and Socialist Parochialism The recent Islamic revival in Zanzibar reflects processes of religion entering the public sphere around the globe in particular reformist, Islamic movements and Evangelical Christian churches and may in this sense be analysed as a global phenomenon (cf. Westerlund 1996, Hunswick 1997). However, it also reflects very local and particular developments, shaped by the specific politics and history of this small island state. Islamic revivalism draws on transnational ideologies and identities, linking up with global trends, particularly evident in a place like Zanzibar with its long history of transnational trade, but it also draws on antagonisms that are particular to Tanzania, and is linked to a growing Islamism in Mainland Tanzania (Tambila and Rubanza 2006). These two aspects lead to the particularity of Zanzibari Islamic revivalism, linking national politics to narratives of its own cosmopolitan past. Until 1964 Zanzibar was a cosmopolitan melting pot of races, cultures and faiths, although by far the majority were Muslim. Due to a long history of trade along the African east coast and across the Indian Ocean, the population was a cultural and racial mixture of immigrants from Africa, Arab countries, India, Mauritius and the Comoros. The majority were Sunni with small communities of Ismailis (mostly of Indian descent) and Ibadhis (mostly of Omani origin). There was a flourishing Islamic scholarly debate on the island, where various sheikhs who had travelled abroad published translations of the Qur an in Swahili and established various schools of thought. The colonial government did not prevent these activities; on the contrary it provided scholarships for young Zanzibari men to study Islam in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Kenya and Egypt and return home to teach, for instance at the Muslim Academy. Arabic language and religious subjects had been fixed curricula since 1908, and the Zanzibar Muslim Academy was established in In accordance with British indirect rule, the colonial government integrated the returning Muslim scholars in the colonial administration thereby avoiding them being marginalised and antagonised. Pre-independence Zanzibar is today by many Zanzibaris perceived as the Golden Age ; an age when people were not only stronger in their faith but also more learned, an age when Zanzibar produced great Islamic scholars and was at the centre of a great East African Muslim tradition. This picture coincides with a picture of Zanzibar as a trading capital of the Indian Ocean part of a cosmopolitan tradition and is opposed to the later period of scholarly and economic decline when Zanzibar became an insignificant appendix to a poor, underdeveloped African 5

6 nation the periphery of the periphery. According to this image of the Golden Age, Islam in Zanzibar in those days was at the same time more pure and more tolerant. Independence and the union with Tanganyika saw the end to this era. The bloody 1964 revolution was heavily founded on a secular, populist, salt of the earth ideology, appealing especially to young marginalized youth who had migrated from the mainland to Zanzibar Town s suburbs (Burgess 1999; 32). Playing on notes of autochthony and Pan-African socialism, the revolution targeted the elite, equating Arabs with slave traders, foreign invaders and capitalist exploiters (Burgess 1999; 36, Heilmann and Kaiser 2002; 702). This anti-arab rhetoric and violence caused many Arabs and Islamic scholars to flee the country to Oman and to the West (Bakari 2001). With the Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar shortly after independence in 1964, Zanzibar and the rest of Tanzania under the leadership of the charismatic Julius Nyerere followed the highly modernist and developmentalist ideology of the particular African socialism, Ujamaa. In this ideology there was not much space for religion. Not only was the state secular; it saw religion as an obstacle to socialist development (Nyerere 1968, quoted in Liviga and Tumbo-Masabo 2006; 157). Although clearly anti-arab and anti-religious, the revolutionary ideology of the socialist leadership would draw on so-called traditional African and Islamic values in order to create new national citizens freed from Western imperialism. As Burgess (2002) shows, this nation-building project (kujenga Taifa in Swahili) involved a Fanonist cultural revolution that sought to impose an aesthetics of modesty, self-discipline and sacrifice for the common good of the nation, opposing what was portrayed as a decadent, imperialist consumer culture. In this sense, although the rhetoric of the newly independent Zanzibar government was explicitly anti-arab and anti-religious, it drew on Islamic symbols as signs of modesty and piousness and as a signifier of an authentic, African culture (Burgess 2002). The revolutionary government has in other words been in a tension similar to the tensions of many post-colonial nation-building projects, namely between a hyper-modernist and developmentalist call to cut away dead wood and break with the shackles of tradition on the one hand, and on the other hand seeking the authentic African and pre-colonial identity of the people. In the Zanzibar case, this resulted in a paradoxical position in relation to Islam. The main result, however, I would argue, was that Islam was reduced to an artefact, a signifier without any meaning. Islam was left without substance and only occasionally conjured up as part of a national identity for instance when arguing why women should not wear miniskirts. 6

7 While much of the island s secular and Islamic educated elite left the country, those sheiks and Islamic scholars who remained, kept a low profile, and only few new Islamic scholars were educated. Arabic and Islam were removed from the curricula, the Muslim Academy was closed and scholars were no longer sent abroad to study Islam. In the following years, only the conservative Sufi sheikhs were able to continue their practices. It is beyond the scope of this paper to give a detailed account of Sufism which has many branches and represents very different kinds of Islamic practice in different parts of the world. However, in the Zanzibar case as in much of sub-saharan Africa Sufism has been applauded by Western scholars for its ability to cohabit with and adapt to local, African cultural practices and beliefs (cf Westerlund and Rosander 1997). Sufism is perceived by outsiders as more tolerant because it accepts singing and dancing and even drinking. It is generally more spiritual, emphasising magic, mysticism and worship of saints. What is important to note in this connection, is the fact that it was not necessary to understand Arabic or to be able to interpret the Qur an in order to follow the Sufi orders. In line with its mysticism, one simply had to follow the prescriptions of the sheikhs. Therefore, the children who attended madrasahs (Islamic religious school, organised in Zanzibar by the local mosques) were simply taught to recite the Qur an without necessarily understanding a word of it. Sufism posed an only modest threat to the socialist regime s secular project because it dealt mainly with the other-worldly aspects of life. This period is perceived by many Zanzibaris today as a dark period in their history. Not only was it an attack on Islam more importantly it is seen as an assault on knowledge and cosmopolitanism. For as much as Zanzibar national identity is Muslim, it is also built on an idea of being part of a larger Swahili culture that is open to the world in terms of travel, trade and intellectual exchange. With Ujamaa and the union with Tanganyika Zanzibaris believe that they were turning their backs on the world. Zanzibaris 98% being Muslim sensed that the so-called secular Union government was actually favouring Christians and marginalising Muslims (Tambila and Rubanza 2006, Bakari and Ndumbaro 2006; 345). While Tanzania officially was secular, there has been a widespread perception among Zanzibaris that especially the Catholic Church was favoured by the socialist government, because Julius Nyerere was Catholic himself. 1 They feel that what used to be a thriving island due to its regional commercial activities was now marginalised by the top-steered developmental state. In other words, the secular government was perceived to be favouring 1 According to Heilmann and Kaiser, Muslims were the main force in Tanzania s early nationalist movement. There is therefore a strong sense of betrayal among Muslims who believe that they helped the Christians into power and were not rewarded equally (Heilmann and Kaiser 2002; 701). 7

8 mainland Tanzania over Zanzibar and Christians over Muslims in its economic development policies. This perception is still widespread in Zanzibar. Political Liberalisation and Islamic Revival With the demise of Ujamaa, Tanzania s economy was gradually liberalised and democratic reforms introduced, and in the early 1980s (with Ali Hassan Mwinyi as president) religion was again allowed in the public sphere. This resulted in a mushrooming of Islamic activities in all spheres of life. Islamic revival can be witnessed in a number of ways: Islamic NGOs, bookshops, schools, universities, prayer groups, da wa 2 groups, etc. have flourished over the past ten years. On the one hand, the new political environment made space for these activities. On the other hand, Islamic revival was part of opening up and reconnecting with the Muslim world after years of isolation. Once again, young men were given scholarships to study in Medina, Khartoum and elsewhere. Mostly these scholarships were funded by wealthy individuals from the Gulf States, who also funded mosques, madrasahs, health clinics, secondary schools, teachers training colleges and universities in Zanzibar. 3 Two of Zanzibar s three universities are thus Islamic universities, funded by Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti individuals, respectively, and manned by teachers from Sudan, Pakistan and other East African countries. Vast amounts of literature, tapes, CDs and DVDs in Arabic, English and Swahili are widely available in bookstores, outside mosques after Friday prayer and for sale on the streets. The middle classes travel, not just to study in Medina, but also to study in Britain or on dawa to the rest of East Africa, etc. Finally, there is an abundance of Islamic channels on satellite TV, while the internet is flowing over with interpretations of the Qur an. In other words, capital, people, knowledge and ideas circulate at increasing levels, which also means that knowledge of the Qur an and other holy writings is increasing rapidly in multiple ways. Central to Islamic movements is an idea of purifying Islam. While Islamic revivalism in mainland Tanzania is directed against the Christians (Tambila and Rubanza 2006), in Zanzibar it is directed 2 Da wa: the duty to inform others about Islam. For more explanation, see the section on Tabligh Jama at 3 According to Haynes, Saudi Arabia spends 1 million dollars a year on building mosques, madrasahs and Islamic centres in Tanzania (Haynes 2005, 1333) 8

9 against Muslims who are munafik Muslims by name only and against the mysticism of Sufism. It is about purifying Islam from within in order to strengthen it against threats from the outside. By the term revivalist I am covering a number of tendencies towards strengthening Islamic thought, practice and belief in Zanzibar something that is part of a global tendency. This tendency is not necessarily linked to any particular organisations, neither does it express any particular sect. In fact there is an expressed wish among revivalists to move beyond sect and simply be Muslims (see also Metcalf 2003) rather than Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi or Maliki, 4 Sufi or Wahabi. Their point is that the individual must find a direct link with God and behave accordingly rather than simply follow the prescribed rituals and guidelines of the spiritual leaders. This said, they are all Sunni and highly critical towards practises of the Sufi brotherhoods (tariqas) that became popular in East Africa in the late 19th and early 20th century 5 (cf Loimeier 2003, Lodhi & Westerlund 1997). Being post-sectarian and mostly concerned with individual faith, Islamic revivalism is more a movement than an organisation. Furthermore, it is a heterogeneous movement that covers a number of tendencies and social groups, from the Islamic scholars who have studied Islam for up to ten years in Medina, Pakistan or Sudan to lower middle-class businessmen with only basic education, from fervent young men to comfortable family fathers. Likewise their understanding of Islam, and in particular their perception of how to strengthen Islam in society, varies significantly. While some believe in putting pressure on the authorities in order to change the conditions for religious practice, others believe in individual salvation. While some believe that Islam should be purified through intellectual debate, others emphasise the purity of the heart. In the following, I try to discern some broad tendencies by presenting briefly the Ansar Sunnah before exploring more in-depth the Tablighi Jamaat movement, drawing on my own fieldwork experiences among members of this group. The Ansar Sunnah not to be confused with Jamaat Ansar al Sunna based in Iraq means the group of defenders/saviours/companions of the Sunnah, and its main objective is a return to the original sources of Islam, the Qur an and the Sunnah. In this sense the followers of the movement are keen to cleanse Islam of the impure practices of local tariqas (Sufi brotherhoods) 4 The four schools of thought, madh hab, named after four schoars of the hadith (muhadithun). The Shafi school of thought is the most widespread in Zanzibar and the rest of East Africa, while Hanbalis are mostly concentrated in Saudi Arabia (interview, Sunkar ). 5 In Zanzibar the most common brotherhood is the Qadiriyya. 9

10 the so-called bidha, such as singing and dancing (Gilsaa 2006). They oppose ziara (the practice of visiting the sheikhs graves), tawasud (blessing saints in prayer), khitma (praying for the dead after three days) and other rituals that express worship of human beings and signify esoteric/mystical relations with the divine (interview, Jabir ). They are strongly against moulid (the celebration of Muhammed s birthday) something that traditionally has been a big extravagant affair in Zanzibar, including music, dance and even alcohol (interview Imam Ali, Kibweni Mosque, Nov. 2006). Apart from being against music, dance and alcohol, the Ansar Sunnah claim that Muhammed was only a prophet and should therefore not be worshipped like a God. When discussing Ansar Sunnah with Zanzibaris of various convictions, I was given very different answers as to what the movement is. Some claim that they are Wahabis, controlled by scholars who have returned from studies in Saudi Arabia. Others claim that they are not Wahabis but prefer the term Salafiyyah (the first generation after the prophet). Rarely would people therefore claim to be Ansar Sunnah and would only refer to the movement in third person, making it difficult to assess the size of Ansar Sunnah and to know exactly from where it draws its support. Because it is more of a broad movement rather than an organisation, there is no head office and no official leader in Zanzibar. 6 What is the appeal of Islamic revival to ordinary Zanzibaris and which groups support this movement? From my observations it appears that it is particularly popular among the urban and semiurban, semi-educated youth. Kibweni mosque in the northern outskirts of Zanzibar town is known to express Ansar Sunnah opinion and is typical of this new semi-urban class. Being uprooted from their rural areas, where the population to a large extent still follows the traditional Sufi customs, while still not quite a part of the settled, urban elite, these young men in the suburbs have great expectations and no means of fulfilling them. They are beyond the control of the traditional sheiks and in search of new identities. These suburbs are ideal recruitment areas for movements like Ansar Sunnah. According to Gilsaa (2006), a number of Islamic organisations are unofficially associated with Ansar Sunnah. JUMAZA (Jumuiya ya Maimamu Zanzibar: The Council of Imams in Zanzibar), established in 2001, brings together a number of revivalist movements such as Ansar Sunnah, 6 Gilsaa explores the genealogies of Islamic scholars in Zanzibar and claims that the undisputed spiritual leader of Ansar Sunnah is Sheikh Nassor Bachoo (Gilsaa 2006). 10

11 Uamsho, Tablighi Jamaat and various Islamic NGOs. Uamsho (literally: awareness 7 ) was established in Zanzibar in the late 1990s and was registered as an NGO in Uamsho claims to be struggling for Muslim unity and for Muslim rights. Uamsho began giving public lectures on Islam as a response to an upsurge in evangelical Christian open air lectures (interview assistant secretary, Uamsho, See also Bakari and Ndumbaro 2006). Later, the organisation became concerned with Muslim rights and began advising individuals about their rights, while simultaneously putting considerable pressure on the authorities (interview assistant secretary, Uamsho, ). Uamsho is very vocal in its criticism of the government, and several leading members have been detained on several occasions. Interestingly, they employ a language of Human Rights and Good Governance in their critique of the authorities. Firstly, they believe that the authorities are intervening in religious affairs and hence contravening the constitution (article 19) that explicitly guarantees the freedom of religion and stipulates that the government should not intervene in matters of worship (interview Salum Toufiq, ). Secondly, they accuse the government of being corrupt and nepotistic. The moral decline in the country is due to this mismanagement and corruption, they claim, and although there are laws in place to regulate alcohol, dress codes (especially the scantily clad tourists are seen as a problem), the corrupt government does not enforce them. As Burgess demonstrates, the revolutionary government in the 1960s and 1970s strictly regulated clothing right down to the width of bell bottom jeans, arresting young men who wore trousers that exceeded 16 inches in diameter (Burgess 2002; 310). In 1973 the government passed a decree as a law to guard and respect the manners of the nations (quoted in Burgess 2002; 308). With economic liberalisation and an expanding tourist industry, the authorities no longer uphold their own strict laws on moral, pious behaviour in the name of socialist nation building. Instead, Islamic groups are taking over the role of upholding moral standards and resisting Western decadence and cultural decay. Interestingly, they do so by on the one hand drawing on notions of traditional Islamic virtues while on the other hand using the language of rights, good governance and the rule of law, critiquing the government for breaking its own laws. Uamsho represents, in other words, a modern, reformist Islam that is beyond sect struggling for the rights of Muslims, and drawing on liberal concepts of rights and freedom of religion. 7 The official name is JUMIKI (Jumuiya ya Uamsho na Mihadhara ya Kiislamu: The organisation for Islamic awareness and propagation). 11

12 Various Western think tanks and intelligence services have accused Uamsho of supporting terrorist attacks against the tourist industry in Zanzibar. Paradoxically, this has had the unintended effect of actually strengthening the organisation vis-à-vis the authorities, since several embassies, including the British, American and Danish, have sent visitors to the organisation. The Uamsho leadership is visibly proud of these contacts and now claims to have good relationships with these countries and actually uses this as a claim to legitimacy in its struggle against the government, that can no longer dismiss Uamsho as a fundamentalist, fanatic fringe group (interview Uamsho, November 2006). 8 Ansar Sunnah claims to represent a pure Islam that is beyond sect and the historical damages of human innovation. According to my findings, however, this attitude goes for a much broader Islamic revival in Zanzibar, and is shared by a large number of Zanzibaris who would never call themselves Ansar Sunnah. Some take an intellectual approach, like Ansar Sunnah, and rely on substantial knowledge of the holy books. Others are more populist and have only rudimentary knowledge of the Qu ran and the most popular hadiths 9. Some want to reform politics in order to make room for religion, while others believe that Muslims should concentrate on their faith and only then will they deserve political power. In fact, many revivalist Muslims are critical towards Ansar Sunnah, which they perceive as too closely linked to Salafism, Hanbalism and Wahabism, and hence to be sectarian and fundamentalist. There are, in other words, a number of Muslims in Zanzibar who want to purify and strengthen Islam but who reject the very uncompromising stance of some of the Salafists in the Ansar Sunnah. Whether Wahabism is actually a force to be reckoned with in Zanzibar, is hard to tell. On the one hand, not many people would openly admit to supporting such a movement. On the other hand, the Mufti s office (representing the official state religion) is keen to portray any Islamic revivalism as fundamentalist or Wahabist. It might, therefore, be more fruitful to see Islamic revivalism and reformist movements as a broad spectre of religious ideologies and practices. The terms Wahabi, Salafi and Hanbali have become loaded signifiers that do not necessarily characterise a specific kind of Islam but rather are inserted into political chains of equivalence in order to discredit political adversaries. Illustrating how recent liberalisation has caused new dynamics and conflict in Islamic authority in Zanzibar creating tension between the traditional sheikhs and the new Islamists is the spotting of the moon at Ramadan. In short, the question is whether to break the fast when the new 8 See also statement at 9 Oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad. 12

13 moon has been spotted in Mecca or when it has been spotted in Zanzibar. The argument for the former is that Muslims belong to a global ummah 10 and therefore should follow the same rituals all over the world. The argument for the latter is that the Muslims in Zanzibar should not be dictated by Mecca and that it is the moon itself that defines the breaking of the fast. The proponents of the local moon believe that what is claimed to represent a global ummah, in fact represents Saudi (and hence Wahabi) dominance. Although the issue may seem banal, it plays into important issues of religious authority and issues of local versus global control. Obviously, the revivalists who are following the moon in Mecca, are challenging the public authority of the local sheikhs. They are also challenging the state, seeing as the Mufti appointed by the President and very much perceived to be the government s man 11 decided to side with the local version. The conflict culminated in 2005 when security forces entered the mosques that were following the Saudi moon and used teargas to disperse the crowds (interview Toufiq ). The issue of spotting the moon and breaking the fast illustrates a number of larger issues concerning the role of Islam in society and the links between religious and political authority. The Mufti s office is concerned to contain the influence of what is perceived to be radical Wahabi youth. The secretary of the Mufti s office explained to me that these youth were in fact not religious at all and were hiding their political agendas in a religious cloak (interview ). Some perceive these Wahabis not as pious Muslims as they claim themselves to be but rather as the instruments of a Saudi Arabian political project to dominate the Muslim world (interview Njozi ). On the other hand, Muslim organisations such as Uamsho and JUMAZA as well as Human Rights organisations such as Zanzibar Law Society believe that the government is breaking article 19 in the constitution, which secures the freedom of religion and stipulates that matters of worship are an individual choice in which the government should not interfere (interview Toufiq ). Also many Muslims, who follow the Zanzibar moon, feel that the government should not intervene when some mosques choose to celebrate Idd ul Fitr (marking the end of the Ramadan) another day. According to my interviews with actors from both sides, 10 Meaning the global community of believers. 11 According to the Mufti act, decree no 9 (2001), the Mufti is appointed by the president and is in charge of Muslim affairs. This is seen by critics as unconstitutional, because the constitution guarantees freedom of worship. 13

14 things seem to have calmed down in the last year or so, and both sides appear to have found a modus vivendi where they do not provoke each other too much. 12 In sum, Islamic revival is driven by younger men, who have been exposed to new ways of interpreting Islam. These ideas clash with accepted wisdoms among the established clergy who are interested in maintaining status quo, and who see these new trends as a threat to their authority. This conflict is then coined in terms of local, authentic religious practices versus global, foreign practices and in terms of the youth no longer respecting customs. The problem for the established religious authorities is that they can no longer monopolise the field of interpretation, because young Zanzibaris are increasingly being exposed to new and competing knowledge. The Importance of Knowledge Education is central to Islamic revival in Zanzibar. 13 Whereas people used to simply recite the Qur an in madrasahs, many now know Arabic and are able to interpret the texts and reflect on their meaning. Similarly, large amounts of texts are being written in English or Swahili or translated from Arabic into these languages. Apart from translating texts into Swahili, reformist Muslims are strongly engaged in creating educational opportunities at all levels in Zanzibar from madrasahs to vocational training centres and universities, often funded by individuals from the Gulf States or Libya. While the focus on education is in part to seek better knowledge of Islam and become a better Muslim, it also provides more mundane opportunities for ordinary Zanzibaris. Better madrasah teaching is attractive to the lower middle classes who want their children to perform well at school, but who cannot afford private tuition. In Zanzibar, where the teaching in traditional mosques is confined to reciting the Qur an and the quality of teaching in state schools is equally poor, reformist madrasahs provide an opportunity to learn other subjects like mathematics, history and Arabic. The best education you can get in Zanzibar whether 12 Interestingly, the secretary of the Mufti s office claims that he used scientific proof to solve the problem. In this manner, it is science that gives him authority and not the Qur an or his status within the clergy. I found a general tendency to compare Islam and science in order to prove the relevance of Islam. However, in doing so, they have already submitted to the paradigm of science. 13 This might be a general, global characteristic of revivalist Islam, but it also draws on local perceptions of the Golden Days of Zanzibar as a centre for scholarly debate. 14

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